Dust to Dust
by Nixi Stasia
Summary: Claire's just died and at the scene of her death, is her daughter, Lillian, who's now all alone and confused. When DCI Hunt arrives at the scene, he's left to tell her that her Mother isn't going to wake up. Oneshot. You only really need to know one of the categories to understand this. T for slight gore and language.


**AN: I'm not quite sure why I'm doing this. It's not like any one is ever going to find it... Screw it, I'm going to do it. I love Gene Hunt, I love Lilly, so, yeah, this is happening. To quote like a million TV shows, "this ! &$ just got real!"**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Professor Layton and I don't own Ashes to Ashes either. I've learnt to deal with it- so should you. :P**_

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Dust to Dust

"Whoa, Guv, what happened 'ere?" DC Skelton asked, staring in shock at the chaos around him.

"Apparently, some twats were doing some experiment," DCI Hunt replied, grudgingly, "And it went _very_ wrong."

The four officers stood at the side of the road, beside Hunt's red, _Audi Quattro_, just a metre away from where the tragedy began. Even after all that they'd seen before, none of it matched up to the devastation of this.

In front of them, stood the remains of Gressenheller's University of Physics. The first three floors of the building were still mostly intact, but all of the floors that had been above it (Chris could've sworn it had been a nine story building) were now gone and in its place was a dancing sphere of flames, crackling its triumph. It had been a reasonably warm day before, with a blue sky, but now it looked a gust of wind. Across the road, was where the true terror lay.

What remained of the buildings that had been destroyed by the explosion, now lay strewn across the road. Cars that had been unfortunate enough to be driving through at the time of the tragedy, were now crushed, metal digging into the already critically damaged road. To only add to the madness, bodies lay limpless and lifeless, only to deliver heartbreak to those they knew. Paramedics ran about frantically, but there was nothing they could do, anyone at the scene at the time of the event, would now be dead.

"Christ," DI Drake muttered, "How many were lost?"

"They don't know yet," DCI Hunt answered, emotionless- even he was completely overwhelmed at such a disaster.

"So, what exactly are we going to do?" DS Carling asked, as he stomped on his cigarette.

"Find out what we can about the incident; who caused it; when it happened; and what it was exactly," DI Drake explained, gathering up the courage to enter the scene before any of the men, "And try and help of course."

"C'mon boys," DCI Hunt gestured towards the scene, "Forensics should be 'ere soon."

With that, the three men trudged towards the horror and began rushing around, questioning any of those alive to see if they had any idea what happened. They questioned the paramedics to see how they'd heard of the news, but were only pushed away after being told that they had to help those who were injured. All four of the officers frowned at this; no one could have survived the incident (none of them felt it was yet safe to say it was an 'accident'), and in DI Alex Drake's words '_a dead man won't be anymore __dead if you get there five minutes later.' _

Finally realising that they wouldn't be able to get any information about the scene, the four officers tried to help those alive, who were finding their relatives to have perished. All four ran off in different directions. DC Skelton and DS Carling ran over towards the rim of the building and began to help dig up bodies, which were lying underneath the rubble. DI Alex Drake looked for those who were injured- perhaps critically- and tried to aid them, whilst DCI Hunt kept stationary.

For a second, he wondered what to do. He wanted to carry on with the investigation and the cause of the accident, but there truly was no one who answer until all that could be done, had been done. Not even to him. Hunt considered following Drake or Skelton and Carling, before realising that if he were to follow those in a higher rank then him would be very irrational and could be embarrassing if any other officers were to see him. Well, to him it would be. Though they were very good officers, he had to be better.

As he scanned the area and heard the screams of the living, his eyes fell across one little girl, who stood on her own- and now possibly was alone. She clearly hadn't been in the streets or one of the buildings at the time of the explosion, but it looked as if she'd been around the remains a while, seeing as her clothes were ripped around the edges and her white blouse was smudged with brown and grey. She couldn't be more than five or six, maybe even younger, considering she was quite small. It was clear she'd just came home from school and found the streets to be like this And it surely was no sight that a child her age should see. Let alone one that she should be alone in.

"Hey, sweetheart," DCI Hunt said gently, crouching down beside her, "What's your name?"

The girl trembled considerably more. She'd been told to never speak to strangers, and they certainly didn't come stranger than this. DCI Gene Hunt was a man in his late-forties, with blonde greasy hair and a slightly round body- though he swore it was muscle. It took a few seconds, but the girl gave a reluctant answer.

"Lillian," she answered, in a bare audible whisper, "Who are you?"

"I'm a police officer," he replied, showing her his ID card and badge, most likely out of habit since it would mean nothing to a child, "Are you here with anyone?"

"My Auntie Brenda is over there," Lillian explained, gesturing to where a woman was tearfully helping a paramedic lift a red-haired woman, who had clearly been in the explosion and lost her life, onto a stretcher, "And that woman, the one who's sleeping, is my Mummy."

"The ginger one?"

"Yes," Lillian nodded, "Why is my Mummy sleeping?"

Hunt stopped, unsure what to say. He'd told many people their relatives or friends were dead before, and not felt one ounce of guilt about it. After all, it was his job and the people he would have to deliver the news to were nothing to do with him at all. Why should he waste his feelings on people he didn't know. Somehow, however, this was different. He'd never had to tell a child their parent was dead, though he had assumed that one day he would have to. But now he wasn't sure how he could tell her. Did a child her age even understand the meaning of death? And should a police officer who she didn't know be the one to tell her?

Suddenly, the woman who the child had referred to as 'Auntie Brenda' came running over to them.

"Who are you?" she asked Hunt, placing a hand on Lillian's shoulder.

"DCI Gene Hunt," he replied, showing her his ID and badge.

"A police officer?" she checked.

"DCI is one of the ranks in the police force, yes," Hunt replied, a smudge of annoyance in her voice.

"What are the police doing here?" she questioned.

"We were investigating the scene, but we're now helping people. Is this your niece here?" Hunt asked, gesturing towards the child.

"Goddaughter," the woman corrected, then lowered her voice, so the child wouldn't hear, "Her Mother's just died, and I need to go in the ambulance to fill out some forms. But I don't particularly think it's a good idea to bring my Goddaughter with me."

"We'll look after her," Hunt replied, nodding, "We'll take her back to the station- don't worry, she'll be perfectly safe."

"Thank you," Brenda thanked, before bending down to her Goddaughter, "Okay, poppet, you're going to stay with this policeman and either me or Daddy will come and pick you up later."

"Okay," Lillian nodded.

"Be a good girl," she told her, with tears in her eyes. She planted a kiss on her forehead, before running off in the direction of the ambulance, that had the body of the red-haired woman.

With tears in her own eyes, Lillian turned around and looked up at Hunt.

"Mummy isn't asleep is she?" Lillian asked.

Gene Hunt crouched back down to the little girl and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Did your Mummy work there?" he questioned, deliberately ignoring the question that he had just been asked.

"Yes, she was a scientist," she answered.

"Hmm, a bird scientist. What will they think of next?" he muttered to himself, before replying to Lillian, "What about your Dad?"

"He's a professor; today was his first day."

"Ooh, a professor, eh? You must have smart parents," he grinned.

"Why do you ask so many questions?"

"I'm a police officer, it's what we do."

"Can you answer my question?"

"I can. What's your question?"

"I already asked it, but you didn't answer," Lillian reminded, "My Mummy isn't asleep is she?"

"No, you saw her, she was asleep," Hunt replied, carefully.

"But she's not going to wake up is she?"

Hunt sighed and wiped his brow, before embracing his arms around the girl. Desperately, Lillian clung to him.

"No, sweetheart," Hunt replied quietly, "No she won't wake up."

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**AN: I'm really wondering why I wrote that. Mainly because it was bugging me. **

**Please leave a review! **

**Anastasia xx**


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